OAKLAND — Derek Carr and Philip Rivers speak the same language.
They just happen to leave out some of the same words.
Wide receiver Tyrell Williams played his first four season catching passes from Rivers and now plays for the Raiders.
“It’s amazing,” Williams said. “As competitive as they are, they don’t curse.”
The language directed toward Rivers by Raiders fans over the years has had its share of four-letter words, and worse. When the Raiders host the Los Angeles Chargers Thursday night (5:20 p.m., PST), it will be the 14th and presumably the final time Rivers starts at the Coliseum.
Raiders fans have four more chances to say goodbye to their team before it relocates to Las Vegas. This will be their last opportunity to bid adieu to Rivers, who has been a more than worthy adversary for the silver and black since becoming the starting quarterback in 2006.
Rivers has loved every minute of it, comparing it to a high school cross-town rival.
“I think what’s so interesting is seeing the wide array of ages and personalities and everything, and they’re almost in character form,” Rivers told reporters this week in Los Angeles. “It’s almost a little bit like you have this relationship with the atmosphere and the fans, because you’ve been there so many times.”
Rivers won his first start against the Raiders at the Coliseum 27-0 in a Monday night Week 1 embarrassment that signaled the Art Shell Part II era wasn’t going to get off the ground. He’s got a 9-4 record in Oakland, having completed 67.1 percent of his passes with 24 touchdown passes, nine interceptions and passer rating of 101.9.
The Raiders have had such a revolving door at quarterback that the only player that has more wins and touchdown passes at the Coliseum since 2006 is Carr. Or how about this one, courtesy of Josh Dubow of the Associated Press: since Ken Stabler was traded following the 1979 season, Rivers ranks third at the Coliseum in quarterback wins and touchdown passes, trailing only Carr and Rich Gannon.
A reputation for being deeply religious, a family man (Rivers has nine children) and a clean liver isn’t the only thing he’s got in common with Carr.
“He’s a coach on the field. He seems like he has a green light to do a lot of things and has a lot experience to draw from,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “They have a lot of weapons . . . he’s a really good player, a great competitor too.”
Rivers has never been to a Super Bowl, but Carr is a big fan. Only Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Dan Marino have passed for more yards than Rivers’ career number of 57,265.
“Philip Rivers is definitely one of the best to ever play, is one of the smartest to ever play the game,” Carr said. “They put everything on his shoulders and to do that year in and year out and still be productive is crazy impressive to any quarterback.”
Five keys to Chargers-Raiders and the Rivers vs. Carr battle, with the only sure thing being that the over/under on swear words will be zero:
1. The Joey Bosa-Melvin Ingram conundrum
Joey Bosa, the older brother of 49ers star rookie Nick Bosa, has 8 1/2 sacks. Melvin Ingram, who can lineup wherever, has only 2 1/2 but is capable of much more.
You never know which side the two will line up. Or if one or both will charge the middle. Compounding the issue for the Raiders is that both center Rodney Hudson, who makes the line calls, and right tackle Trent Brown, are questionable and aren’t locks to play at all.
Andre James has been a capable fill-in at center, as has David Sharpe at right tackle. But it’s not the same. Carr has been sacked only eight times and hit 16 times in eight games, so the pressure could be more than he’s seen all year.
“They’re dynamic players,” Gruden said. “Ingram is all over the place. Someone needs to do a statistical chart on this guy, how many miles he runs per game. He’s the middle linebacker on your goal line defense. He’s a rover on third down . . . Bosa, he’s a problem. Tremendous hand-usage, an arsenal of moves and it’s hard to find him. He moves around.”
2. Josh Jacobs vs. Melvin Gordon
If Raiders rookie Josh Jacobs is wearing down, he’s got a funny way of showing it. Coming off a career-high 28 carries (for 120 yards) against Detroit, Jacobs was a full participant in practice this week. He was taken off the injury list entirely after playing with a shoulder injury for the last two games.
The Chargers are ranked 20th against the run and have been gashed at times by Marlon Mack (Indianapolis), Derrick Henry (Tennessee) and David Montgomery (Chicago). The more the Raiders can run Jacobs, the less they have to worry about Bosa and Ingram as pass rushers.
When the Chargers dismissed offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt in favor of Shane Steichen, it was in part to get back to being a consistent running team. And with Melvin Gordon ending his contract holdout, the Chargers have a pair of fresh legs in the backfield just in time to recommit to the run.
Gordon looked to be rounding into form in his third game back against Green Bay, rushing for 80 yards on 20 carries.
3. An all-out aerial assault
It’s no secret the Raiders have been carved up in consecutive weeks by Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. And here comes Rivers, with 2,609 yards passing, 12 touchdowns and dangerous targets in Keenan Allen (54 receptions, 657 yards), Mike Williams (29 receptions, 530 yards), tight end Hunter Henry (29 receptions, 388 yards) and running back Austin Ekeler out of the backfield (55 receptions, 530 yards).
If Gordon can’t get going, there’s nothing to stop the Chargers from repeatedly testing a secondary that’s had its problems all season.
Raiders wins have been accompanied by some big plays (Erik Harris vs. Indianapolis, two interceptions against the Bears, Daryl Worley against the Lions). Rivers had been known to throw caution to the wind at times.
4. Continuing the rookie onslaught
Against the Lions, all four touchdowns came from the rookie class — two by Jacobs, one by tight end Foster Moreau and one by wide receiver Hunter Renfrow.
Raiders rookies have scored 11 touchdowns this season — nearly half of their team total of 23. The next highest NFL team has five. The Raiders had one touchdown from a rookie all of last season, by receiver Marcell Ateman.
It appears Gruden has evolved when it comes to rookies. During his first go-round in Oakland from 1998 through 2001, the only rookie to score a touchdown was Charles Woodson on an interception return 1998.
5. Stop the flags
Raiders fans are in a social media uproar over all the penalty flags and fines coming their way. The good news is that Maurice Hurst at least had a $21,056 fine rescinded this week.
But the Raiders have given up an NFL-worst 29 first downs by penalty and 97.7 yards per game over the last three games. While Gruden doesn’t necessarily agree with the fines — Maxx Crosby has been particularly hard hit — he wants a reduction in the flags.
“We’ve had too many penalties, I’ll say it like that,” Gruden said. “I don’t want to make any excuses. I’ve got to do a lot better job. We have to do a better job as a team eliminating penalties and if we do that we’ll eliminate the fines.”
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